I have enjoyed Ward's visits with the original Brothers as she has continued the BDB stories. The King gave us more time with Wrath and Beth and I knew when reading The Shadows the next book would have to be Rhage and Mary's book and it only made sense to me for it to be called The Beast. When Ward made the announcement at the Q&A session for The Shadows, everyone in the room went crazy. I loved Rhage and Mary's original story and couldn't wait to see where Ward took their story.

I honestly loved all the page time we got with Rhage and Mary in The Beast. With the title The Beast you would assume this would be true, but in my opinion, until The Shadows, Ward has put so many story lines in each book, the main couple didn't always get enough page time. Ward really did a great job with focus on everything going on with Rhage and Mary and did a great job with it. I'll be honest and say I felt Rhage was suffering from PMS when I read the Shadows and was afraid we wouldn't get answers to why, but we did and Ward did a very respectful job in dealing with Rhage figuring out he wanted to be a dad. As Rhage and Mary can never have children in the traditional way, the only option for them in adoption, and I loved how Ward handled the situation. The fact that Rhage turns into a beast that eats everything in sight and Mary is human could totally be an issue. It was so sweet to watch Rhage and Mary figure out the right path for them. The fact that Bitty, a recently orphaned young, came into their lives right now was just perfect. I will say I adored how quickly Rhage and Bitty bonded and many of their scenes together made me laugh out loud.

There was also plenty of romance and love making between Rhage and Mary. I swear he has a special love for the kitchen pantry and bathtubs. Both hot and laugh out loud funny love scenes with Rhage and Mary and I loved them both.

We also had time with Layla, who was impatiently awaiting the birth of the twins. I was honestly worried about what Ward would do with the twins after everything that happened in The Shadows. She had promised at the Q&A they would both survive, but I still had concerns. However, while there was much drama surrounding the early birth of the twins, I was satisfied with the outcome and absolutely loved the names. I will say I am ready to see the Layla an Xcor issue to move forward and now that the babies are here, hopefully it will be addressed in the next book.

I absolutely loved all the page time we got with the original brothers and Lassiter. Lassiter as always made me laugh out loud. The brothers all being together felt like it did when the series first started. I honestly feel like Lassiter is the humor the books needs, and do hope he eventually gets his own book, but the brothers spending time together, ins imperative to the series staying strong.

My only issue with The Beast is the amount of time we had to spent with Assail. As I've heard Ward say over and over again how much she loves him, I know he will get page time in each book. However, I've come to dislike him more and more with each book. Some of his choices in The Beast made absolutely no sense to me. I really feel like with the amount to page time he received, Assail might just be the subject of the next BDB full-length book. Honestly this does not make me happy, as there are so many other characters I'd rather see get the focus of a book.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Beast. We got plenty of time with the original brothers, and Ward did a great job with her focus on Rhage and Mary. As promised we saw Layla give birth, and it was everything I expected. I'm pretty happy with where Ward took the Brotherhood in The Beast and can't wait to see where she takes us in the next book.